Wolves being killed in Wyoming at very slow pace

The rate at which wolves are dying in Wyoming is much lower than officials were expecting – Could it be that the population is not in need of control?

This unasked question has been hovering under the surface since the wolf hunts restarted is that if wolves can’t be found, how can the population be too high?

Clearly the answer is that the population density must be too low to support the expected death toll.

Montana and Idaho both had lower than expected kill totals for their first hunt, despite incredibly high registrations for permits. The fact is that hunters just couldn’t find wolves, and the greatest success, at least for Montana hunters, was to look close to Yellowstone where wolves had become somewhat less skittish about human activity.

A response (which you would expect to see Wyoming follow suit with) from both Montana and Idaho is to increase the ways in which you can kill wolves, extend the hunt in to the important breeding season and allow additional techniques to entice wolves in to the open.

According to a story posted on Jackson Hole Web site, jhnewsandguide.com, 19 wolves have been killed since the beginning of October, when protections were dropped for the state’s wolf population.

These wolf deaths are a penalty being paid not because wolves present a meaningful threat to livestock.

They are not being killed because science is being used in order to build up the Northern Rocky mountains into a healthy ecosystem which allows wolves, coyote, bears, elk and deer to reach a sustainable balance.

In fact, it should be noted that hunting, and a determined attempt to drive down wolf populations, will specifically impede the ability of wolves to safely disperse in order to both establish new packs and to build genetic diversity which will keep even a smaller population healthy.

But instead, the driving force behind these wolf hunts is political. Driven by the special interests, the red state mentality, the selfish nature of vocal components of the hunting community, and the desire to find a distraction from many other political issues in the form of a canine scapegoat.

Consider wolves to be just another part of the guns, gays and god wedge issue tactic

HOWLColorado will continue our demands for 100 percent scientifically driven decision making as it relates to wolf management, and the potential reintroductions in to other states – such as Colorado.